(Read the full story on apnews.com)

Georgian theater director and film screenwriter who has won broad fame across the former Soviet Union for movies he wrote, has died aged 84, AP reported.

His relatives and colleagues said he died Sunday of an unspecified illness in Tbilisi, the news organisation said.

Garbriadze, an iconic figure in the former Soviet Union, wrote numerous movies, including Mimino and Kin-Dza-Dza, the cult comedies by Georgian director Georgiy Daneliya, AP said.

Gabriadze also was an artist, sculptor and a very productive book illustrator. In 1981, he founded a puppet theater in Tbilisi and was best known internationally for its productions, AP reported.